The Medalist Concert Band is pleased to announce that Carley Olson, a senior from Watertown-Mayer High School, has won the 2010 Earl C. Benson Concerto Competition.
Carley Olson started playing clarinet in fifth grade under the direction of Ellen Kniebel (Medalist Concert Band). Carley has held principle clarinet positions in many honor bands, including the MMEA All-State Band. In the winter of 2009, she was the only wind player chosen to advance to the final round of the Young People's Symphony Concert Association Competition.
Carly currently studies clarinet with Marlene Pauley (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra). After graduation, Carley plans to pursue a degree in music education and performance.
The Earl C. Benson Concerto Competition is an annual performance competition for high school band students. It was named for a long-time music educator and the original conductor of the Medalist Concert Band. The purposes of the competition are to identify talented wind and percussion musicians and to encourage high school students to pursue further musical study. In doing so, the competition supports one of the key tenets of the Medalist Band’s mission statement, which is to provide young musicians with a model of music as a lifelong hobby. The Medalist Band performs with middle school and high school students in joint concerts throughout the school year.
Twenty-one student musicians from across the greater Twin Cities area participated in the competition. Each student submitted a detailed musical résumé and auditioned for a panel of recognized musicians, including the conductor of the Medalist Concert Band, Professor Jerry Luckhardt of the University of Minnesota. The winner of the competition will receive a $750 cash award and be the featured soloist with the Medalist Band at its 2009–2010 finale concert on May 23, 2010, at 4:00 p.m., at the Schneider Theater in the Bloomington Center for the Arts.
